[DeTomaso] Fw: FOR Sale Rant

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/19/09 14 25 57, JDeRyke at aol.com writes:


> One engineer-owner found his
> unmolested car to have the front crossmember welded in place some 1-1/2" 
> LOWER on
> one side, causing the entire front body- with its nicely fitting panel 
> joints-
> to be slightly skewed, and again- factory wheels not well aligned to the
> fender edges. Regardless of Ford's best efforts, these are hand-built 
> cars!
> 

When telling anecdotes like this, it's important to ask if the owner in 
question is the *original* owner.   Most likely, he's not, and the scenario you 
describe is a direct result of poor accident repairs earlier in the car's 
life.

My car has such a history, and its irregularities can be directly 
attributed to this.

The Ford-era cars were built in jigs from stampings, and were remarkably 
square.   It's only after living a hard life that anomolies like yours crop 
up.

The GT5-S cars are a different story--those things were horribly mismatched 
side-to-side due to the fact that the panels were hand-beaten rather than 
stamped.

Mike